10 Inspiring Facts About George Washington Carver

Botanist and inventor George Washington Carver was born into slavery and died as a scientific advisor to presidents and titans of industry. What happened in between was no less extraordinary.

1. HIS FIRST YEARS OF LIFE WERE TRAUMATIC.

The baby boy born to Mary and Giles, two slaves in the household of Moses and Susan Carver, in the 1860s would see tragedy before he turned two. Raiders entered the Carvers' Missouri farm and abducted Mary, her infant son George, and his sister. The Carvers’ agent searched long and hard and eventually recovered George, but Mary and the little girl were lost.

When the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished, the Carvers decided to adopt George and his brother and raise them as their own.

2. EDUCATION WAS IMPORTANT TO GEORGE FROM THE BEGINNING.

Susan Carver taught George to read. As he got older, she encouraged him to learn all he could. Local schools wouldn’t accept black students, so the teenage boy began traveling from classroom to classroom, exploring new subjects and eventually graduating from high school. It was in one of these schoolrooms that the boy known all his life as “Carver’s George” started calling himself George Carver instead.

3. IT WAS ALSO HARD-WON.

Colleges were as reluctant as primary schools to enroll black students. Initially accepted to Highland College in Kansas, Carver was uninvited once administrators learned of his ancestry. Undaunted, Carver decided to create his own research facility instead. He homesteaded a claim and started collecting geological samples, conducting botany experiments, and studying fine art, all on his own.

4. HIS DETERMINATION PAID OFF.

Carver’s intelligence and accomplishments were undeniable. He was admitted to Simpson College in Iowa to study art and music. His beautiful drawings of plants prompted a teacher to recommend him to the Iowa State Agricultural College. The next year, Carver became Iowa State’s first black student.

Carver thrived in academia, and completed his bachelor’s degree with his thesis, "Plants as Modified by Man," in 1894. Thrilled by the young scientist’s potential, his advisors pushed him to continue, and Carver eventually earned his master’s degree after studying plant pathology and mycology. He established his reputation as a leading botanist while teaching at his alma mater.

5. HE EARNED HIMSELF A PRETTY AWESOME JOB.

Word of Carver’s brilliance and creativity spread. Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University), personally invited Carver to lead its agricultural department in 1896. Washington was so determined to snag Carver’s bright mind for his school that he offered a fine lab, a high salary, and a two-room apartment. This didn’t go over well with the other faculty, who had to share rooms, but Washington believed the perks were justified by Carver's accomplishments and degree from a university that didn't usually accept African-Americans.

6. HIS MIND JUST WOULD NOT QUIT.

Carver flourished at Tuskegee. His research, while ground-breaking, was also practical: Carver was always looking for ways to help American farmers get more from their crops. As the boll weevil decimated southern cotton crops, Carver and his students began investigating uses for newer plants like sweet potatoes, soybeans, pecans, and, of course, peanuts. In his tenure at the institute, Carver would invent more than 300 uses for peanuts alone, including chili sauce, shampoo, and glue.

7. HE’S NOT THE PEANUT BUTTER GUY.

Ironically, Carver’s best-known creation wasn’t actually his. The diets of ancient Aztec and Inca peoples included peanuts ground into a paste. Modern peanut butter can be traced back to three inventors: Marcellus Gilmore Edson, who patented peanut paste; John Harvey Kellogg of cereal fame, who created a peanut butter-making process; and Ambrose Straub, who built a peanut butter-making machine. Carver’s efforts did help popularize peanut butter, but he didn’t claim credit.

8. HE WAS APPRECIATED AS A GENIUS IN HIS OWN TIME.

Peanut butter or no, Carver’s expertise was legendary. He advised Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin D. Roosevelt on agricultural concerns, and testified before Congress in support of a peanut import tax. The Crown Prince of Sweden traveled to the U.S. to study under Carver. The scientist even shared his agricultural and nutrition expertise with Mahatma Gandhi.

His innovative mind attracted the admiration and friendship of automotive pioneer Henry Ford. The two thinkers spent several years collaborating, looking for ways to turn plants into power and military equipment. They invented peanut rubber for cannons and made progress toward soybean and peanut substitutes for gasoline.

9. HE STAYED GROUNDED.

Carver never lost sight of what mattered to him most: using his mind to help those in need. He published a long series of easy-to-read bulletins for farmers, providing tips to maximize their yield and creative uses for their crops. He even took the show on the road, driving a wagon through farm country to spread the word about sustainable farming practices that could help poor farmers survive.

10. HIS WORK CHANGED THE WORLD.

Of Carver, Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “From oppressive and crippling surroundings, George Washington Carver lifted his searching, creative mind to the ordinary peanut, and found therein extraordinary possibilities for goods and products unthinkable by minds of the past, and left for succeeding generations an inspiring example of how an individual could rise above the paralyzing conditions of circumstance.”

Great White Sharks May Have Led to Megalodons' Extinction

The megalodon has been extinct for millions of years, but the huge prehistoric shark still fascinates people today. Reaching 50 feet long, it's thought to be the largest shark to ever stalk the ocean, but according to a new study, the predator may have been brought down by familiar creature: the great white shark.

As Smithsonian reports, the analysis, published in the journal PeerJ, finds that the megalodon may have vanished from seas much earlier that previously believed. Past research showed that the last megalodons died roughly 2.6 million years ago, a time when other marine life was dying off in large numbers, possibly due to a supernova blasting Earth with radiation at the end of the Pliocene epoch.

A team of paleontologists and geologists revisited the fossils that this conclusion was originally based on for their new study. They found that many of the megalodon remains had been mislabeled, marked with imprecise dates, or dated using old techniques. After reassessing the specimens, they concluded that the species had likely gone extinct at least 1 million years earlier than past research indicates.

If the megalodon vanished 3.6 million years ago rather than 2.6 million years ago, it wasn't the victim of supernova radiation. One known factor that could explain the loss of the 13 million-year-old apex predator at this time is the rise of a new competitor: the great white shark. This predator came on the scene around the same time as the megalodon's decline, and though a full-grown great white shark is less than half the size of a mature megalodon, the species still would have been a stressor. Adult great whites likely competed with juvenile megalodons, and with the megalodon's favorite prey—small whales—becoming scarce at this time, this may have been enough to wipe the megalodons from existence.

Even if great white sharks eventually beat megalodons for dominance in the oceans, the megalodon's status as one of the most fearsome predators of all time shouldn't be contested. The giant sharks had 7-inch teeth and a bite stronger than that of a T. rex.

From Squatty Potty to Squat-N-Go: The Best Toilet Stool for Every Bathroom

In 2015, Squatty Potty's bathroom stool plopped into the popular conscience with a viral commercial that featured a unicorn joyfully pooping out a conveyor belt's worth of ice cream. The video racked up more than 35.9 million views on YouTube and reportedly caused a 600 percent jump in sales. "The stool for better stools" was a hit.

Now, it's a hit with the medical community, too. New research out of Ohio State University finds that the toilet stool—which aims to relax the puborectalis muscle and straighten out the rectum, making it easier to poop—really does help people who strain to empty their bowels. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology's March 2019 issue, only involved 52 people, but it's the first clinical research into the Squatty Potty, and the results were very positive—71 percent of participants said they experienced faster bowel movements after using the stool for a month. A full 90 percent said they experienced less straining than before.

Since the Squatty Potty debuted, the company has inspired plenty of copycats, as well as launching a number of other official Squatty Potty design iterations targeted at every type of user. Here are the best toilet stool options for every bathroom.

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At just $25, the original Squatty Potty is a great entry-level option that will allow you to try out the system without sinking a ton of money into it. (And it's a whole lot cheaper than an endless supply of Metamucil.) The white plastic isn't the most elevated decor option, but it's durable, easy to clean, and relatively unobtrusive. It's available in a 7-inch-tall version for standard toilets or a 9-inch-tall version for comfort-height porcelain thrones. If you're not sure how tall your toilet is, the company makes an adjustable height Squatty Potty that can be configured to fit anywhere.

Buy it on Amazon, from Squatty Potty's website for $25, or at these other retailers:

The original Squatty Potty can be a bit clunky, but a newer version offers all the health benefits without taking up as much space. The Curve has a thinner footprint so that it doesn't stick out quite so far from under your toilet, but still has just enough room for your feet. The 7-inch stool comes in white, pink, black, and gray.

Keeney's toilet stool offers a few unusual features. For one, it has a storage bin designed to keep your wet wipes close at hand. More importantly, it's designed to hold up more than just your feet—it has a smartphone/tablet holder, too. Though toilet stools are designed to make your bowel movements speedier, if you're the kind of person who likes to spend a lot of time on the can, you can also tuck your smartphone into the built-in groove in the stool designed to keep your screen at optimal viewing angles. Whether you're watching Netflix or looking at Tinder, it offers a hands-free option that you're not going to find on any brand-name Squatty Potty. Ergonomically, it's also got slightly angled footrests designed to put you in the optimal pooping position.

Great bowel movements and great interior design don't have to be mutually exclusive. Squatty Potty's high-fashion option may be pricier, but it doesn't have the medical-device vibes of the original model, either. Designed for small, urban apartments, it's a bit bigger than the Curve but a lot more aesthetically pleasing. The teak finish is great if you're going for a Scandinavian minimalist vibe, while the acrylic glass Slim Ghost model has an artsy mid-century modern look.

Buy the Slim Teak or the Slim Ghost on Squatty Potty's website for $60 and $80, respectively, or on Amazon for $80 or $83.

While Squatty Potty does make a portable version of its bathroom stool (the cleverly named Porta-Squatty), the most convenient travel stool is made by a competitor. Squat-N-Go's foldable footstool comes in two different pieces for easy storage and portability. The two bamboo platforms essentially act as stilts, propping up your feet separately. They offer the most customizable fit, with 7-inch, 8-inch, and 9-inch heights and the ability to place each footstool anywhere around the toilet, at any angle. When you're done, they fold down to just an inch tall and can be stowed in the included travel bag.